Magic Johnson

Earvin "Magic" Johnson is not alone. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates 1 million to 1.5 million Americans have the HIV virus. Officials from the Agency for International Development told a House committee over six million Africans have the virus, too -- one out of every 40 adult Africans. Under the present state of medical knowledge, every one of them will get AIDS and die.The AIDS epidemic is going to get much worse in this country before it can diminish. As of Sept. 30, CDC received reports of 195,718 American AIDS cases in a decade, and 126,159 AIDS deaths.

The debate raging these days between those arguing whether this year's U.S. Olympic men's basketball team could compete with the Dream Team of 20 years ago is not answered simply by a generational divide. I for one, being of sound mind and slightly broken-down body, believe the 2012 version is not being given the respect it deserves before it ever steps on a court in London. I also think the 1992 team was not quite as invincible as they were made out to be because the international game was far from what it is today.

HE'S called "Magic" Johnson for good reason.He has led a charmed life as a professional athlete, earned millions of dollars, been idolized by sports fans and sportswriters as have few other superstars.Now, the sportswriters are recycling their tributes once again -- reruns of the gushers of praise that marked his first headlined retirement a year ago, his Most Valuable Player award in the All-Star game, his romp to the Olympic gold medal with the American "Dream Team" and now his second retirement.

Believe in Magic Shandel Richardson Sun Sentinel Kobe Bryant is great but hardly the greatest Laker of all time. The title has to come from the Showtime era because that always will symbolize the franchise. Magic Johnson is No. 1 on this list. He redefined the point-guard position, brought Hollywood to basketball and is still the face of the organization. Most important, Johnson always will be more beloved by fans in Los Angeles than Bryant.

In a surprising move, the Los Angeles Lakers fired coach Randy Pfund last night and replaced him with former superstar Magic Johnson. He will assume his duties Sunday. Johnson, 34, who led the Lakers to five NBA championships in his 12 seasons with the team, retired in November 1991 after learning he was infected with the virus that causes AIDS. After his retirement, he made a brief comeback, including playing for the 1992 U.S. Olympic team, before retiring again shortly before the 1992-93 season.

Magic Johnson says he wants to return to the National Commission on AIDS, but he has not been asked by anyone in the Clinton administration.In a telephone interview, Mr. Johnson said yesterday that he had not contacted President Clinton, because the president has "more than enough to handle right now . . . the budget and taxes, all the other things are, I'm sure, top priority, so whenever he's ready, I'm ready."Mr. Johnson quit the commission in September because of what he claimed was a lack of backing for AIDS programs by the Bush administration.

Getting the Magic Johnson interview was tough, says Connie Chung. Doing it was tougher."It was painful for me," says Ms. Chung, whose "Face to Face" special airs tonight on CBS (10 p.m., Channel 11). "Every question was intensely personal. With most interviews, personal questions come much later, if at all. I've always been uncomfortable asking them."CBS' Chung -- the only TV type to interview Exxon Valdez captain Joseph Hazelwood -- was relentless in landing the former L.A. Lakers star for his first prime-time conversation since his announcement last month that he's HIV-positive.

Magic Johnson is leaving the door open for a possible appearance in the NBA All-Star Game in mid-February.Johnson, who retired from the Lakers after testing positive for the virus that causes AIDS, said yesterday that he would like to play in the game. His name is on the All-Star ballots."If I'm elected, I'll have to see what [NBA commissioner] David Stern has to say," Johnson said. "We'll see about later. I'll take my doctor's advice. Plus, I have another person to consider now. My wife wants me to stay off that basketball floor.

Magic Johnson resigns from President Bush's National Commissionon AIDS, and Mayor Schmoke appoints Dr. Peter Beilenson to be the new commissioner of health for Baltimore. The two events are not quite as unrelated as they may seem.Mr. Johnson leaves the national commission on AIDS angry, frustrated and disillusioned by the Bush administration. In his resignation letter, he wrote the president, ''I cannot in good conscience continue to serve on a commission whose important work is so utterly ignored by your administration.

A few months ago Earvin "Magic" Johnson was worried about being dumped as a spokesman by corporate sponsors. Now the shoe is on the other foot.Yesterday on the court in Monte Carlo, Mr. Johnson showed off a new move to reporters: the slam dump. He slammed his shoe company, Converse Inc. of North Reading, Mass., in unusually harsh terms for its behind-the-times advertising, then announced he was dumping the company after 13 years."Converse as a company is stuck in the '60s and '70s. They think the Chuck Taylor [sneaker]

As the Cavaliers' front office unpacks the tool box in an effort to rebuild the franchise, the task ahead remains daunting. Rarely has an NBA team in recent history lost a superstar and returned to relevance within a decade. A decade. Hope the Cavs brought big shovels. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen left the Bulls after their sixth championship in 1998, officially beginning the Bulls' rebuilding efforts. It took them seven years just to reach the playoffs again, and they've still won only one playoff series since Jordan retired.

The PGA's Tour's new "it" guy, Dustin Johnson, can dunk a basketball. Barefoot. That seems fitting for a player who has entered some rare air. After making a final-round birdie on the 18th to win the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Johnson became just the second American in his 20s with three or more PGA Tour victories. The other is Sean O'Hair. Just four 20-something Yanks have multiple Tour victories, and you deserve a tee time at Cypress Point if you can name them: Anthony Kim, Nick Watney, D.J. Trahan and J.B. Holmes.

The Lakers' Kobe Bryant suffered a broken finger on his shooting hand in Friday's win over the Timberwolves. He wore a splint on his index finger in the second half of the Lakers' 11th straight victory. He hurt himself reaching for a pass late in the first quarter, and he played through it briefly before leaving in the second quarter to get X-rays. It's not his first avulsion fracture, in which a small piece of bone tears away near a ligament or tendon. Bryant started as the Lakers, an NBA-best 18-3 after playing 17 of their first 21 games at home, began a five-game trip Saturday in Utah.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is being treated for a rare form of leukemia, and the basketball great said his prognosis is encouraging. The NBA's all-time leading scorer was diagnosed last December with chronic myeloid leukemia. The 62-year-old Abdul-Jabbar said his doctor didn't give any guarantees, but informed him: "You have a very good chance to live your life out and not have to make any drastic changes to your lifestyle." Abdul-Jabbar is taking an oral medication for the disease.

I doubt anyone remembers this because it was 16 years ago and just one of many offensive utterances that have spilled out of millions of radios from sea to shining sea, all across the fruited plain, for at least two decades. I remember it well, because it was the last time I listened to Rush Limbaugh for more than five seconds. It was spring, 1993, and the National Basketball Association playoffs were being televised by NBC. Marv Albert handled play-by-play. Magic Johnson, the former Los Angeles Lakers star, was a color commentator.

Jon Scheyer was falling out of bounds when he made a heady play to keep one loose ball alive. David McClure tipped another one to a teammate to deny Texas a last chance. Because Duke is doing all the little things right, some of the biggest things remain very real possibilities. The second-seeded Blue Devils made every clutch play in their 74-69 victory over the seventh-seed Longhorns last night in the East Regional in Greensboro, N.C., propelling them into the second weekend of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006.

Magic Johnson Theatres will build a 16-screen, stadium-style movie megaplex as an anchor of the planned Capital Centre entertainment and retail complex on the site of US Airways Arena in Landover, the project's developers plan to announce today.Loews Cineplex Entertainment and Johnson Development Corp. formed the chain three years ago to bring upscale, first-run cinemas to minority neighborhoods in metropolitan areas, said a spokeswoman for Magic Johnson Theatres. The chain runs similar theaters in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Houston and plans to open three more next year in Cleveland, Harlem, N.Y., and Carson, Calif.

WITH A magician, the hand is always quicker than the eye. But with Magic Johnson, the smile is quicker than the I.The dazzle of that smile seems to have blinded some people to the egotistical essence of Earvin "Magic" Johnson's having tested positive for the HIV virus that causes AIDS. He has been hailed by many as a "hero," when hedonist might be the better word.In explaining why he recently tested positive for the human immunodeficiency virus, he acknowledges that he can't be specific."I am certain," he wrote in last week's Sports Illustrated, "that I was infected by having unprotected sex with a woman who has the virus.

Celtics@Lakers 5 p.m. [chs. 2, 7] It's a rematch of last season's NBA Finals and pits the two teams with the league's richest histories. Coupled with the Spurs-Suns game at 2:30 p.m., the doubleheader marks the beginning of this season's NBA coverage on ABC. Magic Johnson will make his debut on the network's pre-game show at 2 p.m. Mike Breen, Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy call the Celtics-Lakers game.

By RAY FRAGER and RAY FRAGER,ray.frager@baltsun.com | October 17, 2008

Bailing you out with sports media notes while thinking about how hearing about letting John McCain be John McCain makes me think of Manny being Manny: * Add me to the list of observers who have noted how TBS has emulated Fox's habit of cutting to close-ups of fans in order to accentuate the drama in the baseball postseason. However, given the way some of these games have gone, the close-ups could easily just be of people packing up to leave the ballpark before the ninth inning. * So not only does Baltimore really like to watch the debates (as ratings reflect)